"It is illegal in Ruseid to conceal and sell Spirit Orbs!" The knight's voice carves through the silence as he bursts into the carriage, his presence suffocating. Spirit Orbs shimmer in the dim light—Seido among them.
"I found them!" His gaze sweeps across the collection. "Release the spirit orbs. But that one—the one with the ring, looks dangerous." A knight shouted,
"bring it with us, to the king. We must ensure it isn't too dangerous to be freed." another knight shouts back
Seido freezes. He's talking about me…
His pulse pounds, thoughts crashing together. This can't be good. Could it? There is no escape. Not from this box. Not from their judgment
"I also don't have a choice, Because of this damn box," Seido murmurs. Fear curls around his words. He has no other choice.
The knights grabbed Seido's prison, to put him in another carriage. "What will they do to me" Seido says,
"Wait. Can you talk?"
The voice comes from the shadows, hesitant, soft. Seido jolts, turning toward the far corner. A boy sits there, blindfold loose around his neck. His eyes—wide, searching—lock onto Seido.
Seido hadn't even noticed him.
"Yes, I can talk… Why?" Seido's voice steadies, but something feels wrong.
" A gang of thieves corrupted Spirit orbs, and they never spoke" drops his curiosity, his tone shifting. "That's why I am here" He finishes speaking before looking down.
His breath hitches, his words falling apart at the end.
Seido watches him. Loss. He knows it well—he had been about the same age when it happened to him.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Seido says, his voice softer now.
The carriage shudders forward. Time passes—slowly, painfully. The knights control their every move, the cold wood beneath them a constant reminder of their captivity.
At first, Haruy barely speaks. But Seido keeps talking. He tells the boy about his parents, about things that don't matter but somehow do. Bit by bit, Haruy responds, until silence no longer hangs between them.
Until they are no longer strangers.
Days later, the castle towers over them, its jagged spires cutting into the sky.
"I think that's the castle!" Haruy exclaims, excitement cracking through his voice.
Seido stares up at the enormous structure, a pit forming in his stomach.
"Yeah… I think it is," he says, though his eagerness has been replaced by something else, unease, as they are brought to. The corridor stretched like a spine of stone, each step echoing louder than the last. The stairs twisted unnaturally, winding longer than they should—as if time itself bent around the throne.
"What brings you to my Palace young boy and Spirit orb" The king says with immense power
"Well this spirit orb is like none other I have ever seen" one of the knights say bowing in front of the king
"Now that you have said something he does look A bit peculiar" The king says nodding his head
"And this boy Was also emitting a bit of power and we did not know if you wanted us to release this them or lay ground to them now so they don't cause us problems down the road" The knight says
"Let them be bound," the King said, voice like thunder wrapped in silk. "Two souls, one fate. Cast them into a land not yet broken." The King says with great thought
"That could work" Another knight says
"That's all that needs to be done" Seido yells as, his eyes widen, Huray's mouth opened wide at the thought he can spend forever with his friend,
"Yeaaaaaah!!!" Huray screams with excitement.
"Get them a carriage and send them to the town of Mantis, across the plains"
But elsewhere—far from the grand halls of the King's palace—Emma moved through the shadows and allies where assassins thrive and hitmen live.